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EBMM StingRay Special Club

#10,181
For those of you that play your Specials as your main bass, what is your other non StingRay complimentary bass?
Something that feels and sounds different for a change of pace.


I have 4 Specials and my Sandberg . The Sandberg gives me a more modern take on vintage sounds. Great clarity with a super fast neck on that bass.

Im curious to see if most people go with something more in the vintage or modern type sounds.
 
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#10,184
Agree on finishes. One of the things that made the Specials special for me were the unique finishes - bursts and sparkles. They're not retro instruments, they have more modern appointments like roasted maple necks, 18V preamps etc that make them a joy to play in a different way from the retro offerings (which are great in their own way).

I think they should have stuck to that. The new solid pastel colours do nothing for me and I won't be getting one.
 
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#10,186
Besides my Special 5HH, my other main bass (co number ones as I say all the time) is a ceramic Stingray 5HH. They're nearly identical in feel and their individual sounds overlap quite a bit, but they each have their own character and complement each other nicely. But, since I treat them as co number ones, that might not be the answer you were looking for?

Maybe a better answer to that question is my L-2500. It sounds quite different from my Stingrays but is equally useful. The funny thing about it is, that for all its versatility, I mostly use it as a Precision on steroids with it almost always set to neck pickup solo’d, series mode, and passive. Especially with flats on it (on this bass Chromes have worked the best), it gives me a VERY beefy Precision tone that I can mellow out when needed by backing off on the volume knob. It does this well enough that I chose to sell my very nice MIA Precision V. This bass works great on my band’s playlist and I like it a lot, but it will not replace either of my Stingrays.

I have a few other basses and could write a report of them all similar to what I wrote about the L-2500, explaining the way they complement my Stingrays but will never replace them. I just picked the L-2500 because it gets the next most playing time.

EDIT: May as well post a picture. :D
 
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#10,187
Here is my family picture
IMG_0661.jpeg
 
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#10,188
LadyLoveStingRay5 said:
For those of you that play your Specials as your main bass, what is your other non StingRay complimentary bass?
Something that feels and sounds different for a change of pace.


I have 4 Specials and my Sandberg . The Sandberg gives me a more modern take on vintage sounds. Great clarity with a super fast neck on that bass.

Im curious to see if most people go with something more in the vintage or modern type sounds.
Click to expand...
Jazz & P/J all 4 strings for now waiting on the Sire V5 24 5 strings to hit the stores.
 
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#10,189
LadyLoveStingRay5 said:
For those of you that play your Specials as your main bass, what is your other non StingRay complimentary bass?
Something that feels and sounds different for a change of pace.


I have 4 Specials and my Sandberg . The Sandberg gives me a more modern take on vintage sounds. Great clarity with a super fast neck on that bass.

Im curious to see if most people go with something more in the vintage or modern type sounds.
Click to expand...

I don't own a Special anymore, but I do own a Classic. Nothing is a better partner than a vintage style Precision with flats. Eventually I want a vintage style 70s Jazz as well. That's all you need in life right there.
 
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#10,190
LadyLoveStingRay5 said:
For those of you that play your Specials as your main bass, what is your other non StingRay complimentary bass?
Something that feels and sounds different for a change of pace.


I have 4 Specials and my Sandberg . The Sandberg gives me a more modern take on vintage sounds. Great clarity with a super fast neck on that bass.

Im curious to see if most people go with something more in the vintage or modern type sounds.
Click to expand...
I'm a long-time Precision Bass-with-flats kind of guy, so much so that I've been hesitant to play out with my other basses much. (Weird, I know.)
The last couple of months, I've been gigging with a Special (with flats) and bringing a Precision as a backup. So I'm very new to using the Special as my main bass.
I'm very enthusiastic about it, because I've found that I can get a nice fat tone that works for our band's old school soul music, but also a biting sound for funk stuff like Sly Stone. Plus, the lighter weight has been very nice on my lower back!
 
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#10,191
Group shots are hard, I stick to this one. The Stingray Special 5 and the Fender AV63 P get the most use. Sadowsky Metro J, Stingray (special but not a Special), MIA P (flats), and a 55-02 round out the collection. Just depends on what I'm doing and what I feel like playing. I love the five strings but I'll be honest that I'll stick with a four string if it'll get the job done.

A69B2F56-769B-4AD4-925D-824D286660B3.jpeg
 
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#10,192
LadyLoveStingRay5 said:
For those of you that play your Specials as your main bass, what is your other non StingRay complimentary bass?
Something that feels and sounds different for a change of pace.


I have 4 Specials and my Sandberg . The Sandberg gives me a more modern take on vintage sounds. Great clarity with a super fast neck on that bass.

Im curious to see if most people go with something more in the vintage or modern type sounds.
Click to expand...

316786373_1133732417310245_4867212105779351270_n.jpg


Bongo 1.jpg


Either of those 3 for me. The Bongo probably gets the most playing time though when I'm not using a StingRay.
 
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#10,193
Pet Sounds said:
I'm a long-time Precision Bass-with-flats kind of guy, so much so that I've been hesitant to play out with my other basses much. (Weird, I know.)
The last couple of months, I've been gigging with a Special (with flats) and bringing a Precision as a backup. So I'm very new to using the Special as my main bass.
I'm very enthusiastic about it, because I've found that I can get a nice fat tone that works for our band's old school soul music, but also a biting sound for funk stuff like Sly Stone. Plus, the lighter weight has been very nice on my lower back!
Click to expand...
What flats are you playing on your Stingray? I've tried basically every flat on a Stingray, and NOTHING competes with TIs or Cobalts on that bass. All the other flats really delete all of that amazing Stingray tone. They both keep it sounding like a ray but also give you that flats feel and tone as well.
 
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#10,194
Mike Vee said:
What flats are you playing on your Stingray? I've tried basically every flat on a Stingray, and NOTHING competes with TIs or Cobalts on that bass. All the other flats really delete all of that amazing Stingray tone. They both keep it sounding like a ray but also give you that flats feel and tone as well.
Click to expand...
I have Cobalts on one Special and GHS Precision flats on another. I like 'em both. Have you tried GHS?
 
#10,199
LadyLoveStingRay5 said:
For those of you that play your Specials as your main bass, what is your other non StingRay complimentary bass?
Something that feels and sounds different for a change of pace.


I have 4 Specials and my Sandberg . The Sandberg gives me a more modern take on vintage sounds. Great clarity with a super fast neck on that bass.

Im curious to see if most people go with something more in the vintage or modern type sounds.
Click to expand...
For live shows and rehearsals: Depends on the gig. Two pre-Special StingRay 5HHs for most, then the Specials. Next a Lull NRT 5, a Nash JB5 or a Bongo 5.

For practice: It’s the Specials mostly, then the Bongo, Nash or a Fender P.

For recording: Whatever works.
 
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#10,200
Mike Vee said:
I love a P with flats but LaBella is the only way to go for me in that regard. Although I have been testing out Chromes the last few days, but they are coming off this afternoon. Very generic tone. Extremely boring.

On a Jazz / Stingray / Sabre I like TIs or Cobalts.
Click to expand...
I like LaBellas, too. I have them on a Sadowsky MIJ Metro and a Rickenbacker 4001. I guess I'm not much of a string connoisseur, though, because I also am fine with GHS Precision flats and even humble Fender flats. I got a set of TIs and am trying to decide which of my basses to use them on.
 
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